Countries Where Spanish is the Official Language

Spanish is the primary language for many countries in Central and South America, as well as Spain. Dialects do vary dependent on the area. | Source

Countries Where More than 10 Percent Speak Spanish

Although Spanish is the primary language in only a few countries, more and more countries have larger populations where there citizens speak Spanish, including the United States of America, as well as parts of Europe and Northern Africa. | Source

Basic Spanish Verb Facts

Verbs in Spanish are conjugated differently dependent on their use. Looking at how we use the verb phrase "to be" in English will provide understanding as to why the different conjugations are necessary. For instance, each pronoun uses a different form of the verb, like as follows:

I am

you are

he is

we are

they are

In English we have three ways to say "to be" in the present form: am, are, and is. In Spanish there are six different ways:

(I am) soy

(you are - singular) eres

(he/she is and you are - formal) es

(we are) somos

(you are - plural) sois

(they are or you are - plural and formal) son

Notice that there are four different ways to say you are, depending on who the 'you' is and how many people are being spoken to. 'You' can be singular informal, singular formal, plural informal, or plural formal. Informal would be when speaking to your close friends, whereas formal would be talking to your boss, a sales clerk, a teacher, or anyone else you want to show respect.

The "to be" verb phrase is not the only verb to be conjugated. All verbs in the Spanish language need to be conjugated based on who they are being spoken about and whether they are past, present, future, etc. In most cases, the formula for conjugation is to drop the suffix (-ar, -er, or -ir) and replace it with the new suffix. Below are charts for the most common conjugations.

Alt Codes for Spanish Letters/Symbols

á

alt 0225

é

alt 0233

í

alt 0237

ó

alt 0243

ú

alt 0250

Á

alt 0193

É

alt 0210

Í

alt 0205

Ó

alt 0211

Ú

alt 0218

ñ

alt 164

Ñ

alt 165

¡

alt 173 (inverted exclamation)

¿

alt 168

When to Use the Present Tense

Present tense is the tense that expresses what is happening right now. For instance, in English, the present tense for I speak would be "I read," "I am reading," and "I do read." Using the infinitive root, plus the endings listed above, you are changing the infinitive to the present tense. For instance, 'leer' becomes 'leo' when changing from to read to I read, by dropping the -er ending and adding the yo/-er ending -o. (leer (-) -er(+) -o = leo).

Present Conjugation

-ar

-er

-ir

yo

-o

-o

-o

tú

-as

-es

-es

el/ella

-a

-e

-e

nosotros

-amos

-emos

-imos

vosotros

-áis

-éis

-ís

ellos/ellas

-an

-en

-en

When to Use the Preterite

In Spanish, the preterite form is used when discussing something that occurred in the past and it is known precisely when it happened or how often it occurred.

The preterite form is also used when expressing sudden changes in mood (ex: I was afraid to go on stage.) or when giving a chain of events (ex: I started the car, looked in the rearview mirror, and backed out of the driveway.)

Preterite Conjugation

-ar

-er/-ir

yo

-é

-í

tú

-aste

-iste

el/ell

-ó

-ió

nosotros

-amos

-imos

vosotros

-asteis

-isteis

ellos/ellas

-aron

-ieron

When to Use the Imperfect Tense

The imperfect tense is used when speaking in the past about a habitual action or something someone used to do.

Imperfect Conjugation

-ar

-er/-ir

yo

-aba

-ía

tú

-abas

-ías

el/ella

-aba

-ía

nosotros

-ábamos

-íamos

vosotros

-abais

-íais

ellos/ellas

-aban

-ían

When to Use the Subjunctive Present

The subjunctive tense shows mood, not tense. Tense is when an action takes place in the past, present, or future, whereas the subjunctive tense shows how a person feels. In English it is not used very often, but a very common way to speak in Spanish; which makes it difficult for native English speakers to know when to use this form. An example of when we might use it in English is if we were to say, "The teacher recommends that he study for the test." "He study" is the subjunctive tense. Note that normally we would say, "he studies." The reason you use that tense is because the term in not certain or factual. Although the teacher does recommend that he does this, it is not certain that he will.

A good indication that you will need to use the subjunctive form is if you see such indicators as:

In order that... - Para que...

It is possible that... - Es posible que...

It's important that... - Es importante que...

It's necessary that... - Es preciso que...

To believe that... - Creer que...

Until... - Hasta que...

This is far from a complete list, but gives an idea of what to look for.

Subjunctive Present

-ar

-er/-ir

yo

-e

-a

tú

-es

-as

el/ella

-e

-a

nosotros

-emos

-amos

vosotros

-éis

-áis

ellos/ellas

-en

-an

When to Use Commands

The command form is very familiar to English speakers. It is when telling someone to do something, such as, "sit down," "don't speak," "watch this!" etc. All forms are in the " you" form, although since there are different forms of "you," then one must change the form based on whether it is singular or plural, and whether the singular form is formal or informal.

Commands

-ar

-er/-ir

formal singular

-e

-a

formal plural

-en

-an

informal singular

-a

-e

When to Use Future Tense

There are two forms of the future tense, the informal form and the simple form. The informal form uses the verb go (ir) + (the preposition a) + infinitive. In the chart below, the last column shows what form of the verb ir should be used in which tense. This would be equivalent to saying, "I am going to...." in Spanish.

When to Use the Conditional Tense

The conditional tense is used when referring to the future in the hypothetical. In English, we would use the words would, could, probably and must have. In spanish only one word is used and is changed to the form based on its ending and form.

Conditional

-ar

-er

-ir

yo

-aría

-ería

-iría

tú

-arías

-erías

-irías

el/ella

-aría

-ería

-iría

nosotros

-aríamos

-eríamos

-iríamos

vosotros

-aríais

-eríais

-iríais

ellos/ellas

-arían

-erían

-irían

When to Use the Perfect Tense

There are three forms of the perfect tense: present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect. In Spanish, two words are used to form the proper tense; an appropriate form of the word have (haber in Spanish) and an auxiliary word. An auxiliary word is not the same as infinitive, but actually uses the same form as the past participle.

I will have run a marathon. (He corrido una maratón.) (conjugated - future yo form of haber (+) correr (-) -er (+) ido)

Perfect Tense

present perfect

past perfect

future perfect

yo

he (infinitive)+ado/ido

había (infinitive)+ado/ido

habré (infinitive)+ado/ido

tú

has (infinitive)+ado/ido

habías (infinitive)+ado/ido

habrás (infinitive)+ado/ido

el/ella

ha (infinitive)+ado/ido

había (infinitive)+ado/ido

habrá (infinitive)+ado/ido

nosotros

hemos (infinitive)+ado/ido

habíamos (infinitive)+ado/ido

habremos (infinitive)+ado/ido

vosotros

habéis (infinitive)+ado/ido

habíais (infinitive)+ado/ido

habréis (infinitive)+ado/ido

ellos/ellas

han (infinitive)+ado/ido

habían (infinitive)+ado/ido

habrán (infinitive)+ado/ido

-ar verbs end in -ado, whereas -er/-ir verbs end in -ido

These conjugations are all for regular verbs. There are many irregular verbs that do not follow these commands. The best way to learn them is by using a Spanish/English verb dictionary. They will have a nearly complete list of irregular verb conjugations.

Spanish Speakers in the US

Spanish is spoken throughout the United States with varying degrees of popularity. The map above indicates where Spanish is spoken most frequently. | Source